EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 16/07: Protectionism to hit metals demand; Cu conc TC/RCs jump to 10-month high; Cu suffers heavy losses in trade spat

With the exception of nickel and aluminum, base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange staged a modest recovery during Asian morning trading on Monday, with the market continuing to adjust to trade tensions between China and the United States.

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Living standards in emerging economies will deteriorate more than in developed countries under a landscape of rising import tariffs, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and this will have implications for demand growth across metal commodities.

Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TCs/RCs) rose to ten-month highs in mid-July when miners began to sell tonnages at higher prices and smelters consolidated their purchasing with terms around $90 per tonne/$0.09 per lb.

The escalating China-US trade tensions and China supply-side reforms were in the spotlight at the Base Metals Forum held by Citic Securities this week in Wuxi, Jiangsu province.

Correspondent Dalton Barker recaps the week in the non-ferrous markets.